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Field Trip Checklist
It only takes one disaster on a field trip to make you rethink every future field trip. Every teacher has a story, and mine involved a bus going the wrong way, making a too-fast u-turn in a funeral parlor parking lot and going under an awning that was too low. It skimmed the top of the bus, debris fell into the bus and a new sunroof was born. The funeral parlor owner kindly invited us to wait inside until the police arrived. We politely declined. It’s funny now. It wasn’t that day. (Disclosure: Some of links below are affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I…
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More Than a Test Score
It's testing season here, and to me that only means one thing. Stress. Stress for our teachers. Our principals. Our parents. But most of all, stress for our students.
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We’ve Got The Whole World In Our Hands
Earth Day is April 22nd and it is a great opportunity for upper elementary students to evaluate the impact that we have on the planet and what the future implications of that impact could be. When I was looking for videos I found a lot of smaltzy, sing-songy videos aimed at lower elementary about recyling, reducing, reusing, planting, etc. But in this blog I want to highlight the five that I found for upper elementary students that I think are the most useful for explaining and laying out the consequences of not looking after our planet, as well as things families can do that could have a positive effect. (Disclosure:…
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Fractured Fairy Tales
Teaching a unit on fairy Tales, folktales and fables was always one of my favorite times in school. We would start with traditional tales, which even back in the 1990’s not everyone knew, and if they did it was often just an wide-eyed Disney version. Then we would move on to lesser known tales, like that of Bluebeard, who told his wife never to open the room on the top floor of the house (but left her the key anyway), Rushen-Coatie and Yeh-Shen (Scottish and Chinese versions of Cinderella, respectively). By far my favorite part of the unit though, was teaching ‘twisted’ or ‘fractured’ versions of familiar fairy tales, usually…
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Free Easter Bag Toppers!
This week I have a freebie for you that you can use to top ziplock baggies that contain an Easter treat. I used Peeps, because I like them, but you could fill your baggies with chocolate eggs, jelly beans or trinkets.
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The Best Easter Egg Hunt EVER!
After about 75 seconds of a whirling, screaming dervish, two kids had bumped heads going for the same egg. Billy had found 107 eggs. Jasmine had found one. Billy did not want to share the eggs he found. Jasmine was crying. Mallory whined that she was tired. Lilly wanted an animal egg that Jared had found. Jared wasn't giving it up.
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Mother’s Day Craft
(Disclosure: Some of links below are affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.) As I write this, I know it’s not May, but I want to help you strike something off your list that will creep up on you in a couple of months: Do you find yourself frantically pulling out your hair when you realize that it is Mother’s Day and your students haven’t grown a plant, written on a shrinky dink or made a bracelet/magnet/picture frame for their moms? Before you reach for the yarn and the every trusty box of…
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Thinking About Flexible Seating in Your Classroom?
Some considerations before you decide It’s no secret that children need to move. A traditional classroom set up has children sitting at one desk for most of the day. It’s no wonder that they fidget, get antsy, bored and tired. And in recent years doctors have been warning us about sitting for too long in offices and at home. Our children are also sitting for the majority of the day. (Disclosure: Some of links below are affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.) I first heard about flexible seating about five years ago,…
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Increasing Teacher Motivation
A message to principals, administrators, district leaders and politicians Teaching morale is at an all time low. Just look at the #redfored demonstrations taking part across the nation. And contrary to media reports, teachers are not asking for more pay (even though in real terms a teacher in 1992 had a slightly higher salary than in 2016). They are asking for more support, more funding for their students, and smaller class sizes. In a 2014 federal survey, only 12.5 percent of teachers that had left the profession said recognition and support from administrators was better in teaching than their new job, a steady drop from Education Department surveys carried out…
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We’re all Irish on St. Patrick’s Day!
I don’t know about you, but for me St. Patrick’s day is a whole month of green, rainbows, leprechauns and fun. It is one of my favorite holidays in school, maybe because it heralds the changing of the seasons and bridges the gap between cold winter and the blooms of spring. (Disclosure: Some of links below are affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.) Some of the fun things I have done with my class in the past is decorate styrofoam cups as traps, leave them overnight only to discover that a mischievous…
